Riverwest Co-opService Learning Project

Candiss ShumateEric Engelbart

William Chaussee

Located on 733 E. Clarke Street in the heart of the Riverwest community

Our Service Learning Organization (photo taken by Eric Engelbart)

The Community Shared Agriculture (CSA) gardens are scattered nearby the Riverwest Co-op. These gardens provide organic and healthy food to the Co-op and to the local residents of Riverwest.

Riverwest Co-op also offers several opportunities for volunteering which creates a sense of connection between people in the neighborhood. Many of the customers are also volunteers, and this helps to create a sense of partnership between the local people and businesses.

Riverwest Co-op also sponsors and promotes local action events such as Eco-jam (a litter clean-up of parks), organic cook-offs (bringing members of the community together to cook the best organic chili) the Riverwest follies (a community-driven dance), and many other events.

People who shop at the Riverwest Co-op also have the opportunity to become a member, and get discounts on the products they buy. This gives the community members a feeling of relief when entering the co-op. Also, while we were observing the members that entered into the co-op, almost everyone was greeted by their first name, and made felt welcome and appreciated.

Riverwest Co-op and its role in the surrounding neighborhood

This particular picture portrays the diversity that surrounds the Co-op. For example, notice the historical church across the street from the shut down bar, and the lower income houses. Many of the surrounding buildings are dilapidated while the Co-op

is very eye-catching and welcomes its members and volunteers with open arms and friendly smiles.

A side view of the Riverwest Co-op (photo taken by Candiss Shumate)

The Co-op attempts to exclusively sell produce and other goods from local businesses and farms. This helps to form a partnership between local businesses, and benefits both them and the community.

Riverwest Co-op and its role in the city of Milwaukee

This picture is important because the customer who plans to buy this ice cream, will know exactly where it comes from, and how local the product really is. Cedar

Crest is a local producer of frozen desserts located in Cedarburg, WI.

(photo taken by Candiss Shumate)

The Riverwest Co-op provides customers with Rishi Tea, which is produced nearby in downtown Milwaukee. The Rishi company is fair trade, and imports organic tea

from around the world. The fact that they are fair trade is important to the Co-op, because they are concerned with the well being of those who produce the products that they sell. Rishi only imports their tea from manufacturers who

provide fair wages and reasonable working conditions for their employees.

Photo taken by Candiss Shumate

Riverwest Co-op has taken a great interest in sustainable agriculture practices which seems to be occurring at a national level. Sustainability is the idea that

there is a balance between the worlds population and the environment. Because Milwaukee is a larger community, there are already heavy amounts of pollution, mostly due to automotive pollution. Sustainable agriculture strives

to conserve energy resources as well as water resources. Sustainable agriculture requires that we use nonrenewable resources i.e. fossil fuels, as

wisely as possible. Conservation tillage is a very popular use in farming because it reduces energy costs. Sustainable agriculture also requires that we

conserve water as much as possible. New ways of irrigation are being used called drip and trickle irrigation which delivers water to plants much more

efficiently then conventional irrigation. Other practices are used to conserve soil productivity such as strip cropping, wind breaks, crop rotation and also as discussed before conservation tillage. The Riverwest Co-op uses the produce from farms that utilize these sustainable practices contributing to the nation wide movement and even world wide movement we know today as “green”

living.

Riverwest Co-op’s effect on a national scale

Marsh and Grossa, Environmental Geography, p. 163 & 164

The Riverwest Co-op strongly addresses the differences and inequalities within Milwaukee, a strongly urban environment, in many ways. First, the Riverwest Co-op’s location is in the heart of a lower-income, and lower-class neighborhood. Unfortunately the nearest grocery store is several blocks away from these surrounding neighborhoods, which is an inconvenience for many. Not only is the nearest grocery store too far away for many individuals, but its food is more expensive and there is a limited selection of organic groceries. The Riverwest Co-op provides organic, healthy and cheaper food for the lower class, and the location is only a short walk away.

The Riverwest Co-op and residential segregation of different communities

Differences and inequalities often mean a different access to resources, including something we may take for granted such as access to a grocery store for instance. Hunger Task Force has proven that there has been an expansion of concentrated poverty in Milwaukee. The map to the right shows that if you live in concentrated poverty, you may not have access to affordable food. Hunger Task Force addresses this difference by providing food for food pantries in neighborhoods who seem to lack access to grocery stores, as well as researching who has access to food and advocating for better access to food for those who need it.

Photo provided by Hunger Task Force

Several fast-food restaurant operations are located within the Riverwest area and are popular among lower-income residents, because of cheap prices and easy access such as drive-ins. (Mcdonalds, for instance) This only promotes an unhealthy diet; although there are not many alternatives for cheap food in the area.

However, the Riverwest Co-op provides not only healthy, organic food, but the products are cheaper and the co-op is located in an ideal location for many of the lower-income residents of Riverwest and surrounding communities.

While we volunteered at the Riverwest Co-op, we also noticed a diverse crowd that entered into the co-op ranging from higher class to lower class members. Not only does the co-op attract lower-class people, but wealthier people also enjoy shopping and eating at the Riverwest Co-op and café.

Fortunately, not only Milwaukee residents, but people from all over the United States are buying organic and healthy food from co-ops. These customers consists of both lower class and higher class citizens. This is due partly to the popular “go green” campaign that many Americans are taking an interest in.

The Riverwest Co-op addressing differences in income and wealth

This picture was taken directly in front of the co-op facing the street area. It was taken to once again portray the urban inequalities within the Riverwest

area. Here there are fancier looking cars, but also run-down houses. This picture alludes to the idea that both higher income and lower income

citizens enjoy shopping and eating at the co-op.

(photo taken by Candiss Shumate)

Because Milwaukee is a strongly urban area, plots of open land are essential when it comes to the Riverwest Co-op and its volunteers. The co-op depends on their local gardens to generate the delicious and organic produce that they sell at the co-op.

Also, Milwaukee only has limited areas of arable land, so the Riverwest Co-op can only grow a small number of produce to sell to the public.

The Riverwest Co-op addressing differences in land use

These are two pictures of the Community Shared Agriculture (CSA) gardens that are located within 7

blocks west from the Riverwest Co-op. A majority of the produce sold at the Riverwest Co-op is grown at

this garden.

(pictures taken by Eric Engelbart)

The Riverwest Co-op, for the time being, is only able to serve the community around it and at it’s largest level the city of Milwaukee.

The Riverwest Co-op is run entirely by volunteers, therefore volunteers can only be counted on for so much. Their own personal lives come first and they can only contribute so much to the overall well being of the co-op.

The CSA garden can only operate seasonally and is only large enough to support a small community. Therefore, during the winter months the produce is delivered from farms that are much farther away, which produces auto exhaust and ultimately, pollution.

Limitations of the contributions of Riverwest Co-op to environmental problems

Any local or global action towards helping solve the current environmental issues, is better than no action at all. However, only acting locally is not enough to help fight huge issues such as pollution and climate change.

Yet by simply promoting sustainable agriculture through CSA farms and selling organic produce, the Riverwest Co-op is acting more sustainably than food stores like Pick and Save or Sentry.

The following slide provides a chart of local CSA farms; some of which the Riverwest Co-op receives it’s food from.

Is “acting locally” enough?

Chart credited to: Urban Ecology Center

As we have learned throughout our class this semester, environmental inequality is a large problem within major cities, such as Milwaukee. Because there are limited land resources within Milwaukee it is more difficult for inner city residents to practice sustainable agriculture.

The Riverwest Co-op acts as a hub for people to receive sustainably grown products but unfortunately not everyone decides to purchase eco-friendly food.

Limitations of the contributions of the Riverwest Co-op to environmental

inequalities in Milwaukee

Unfortunately for individual co-op’s, such as the Riverwest Co-op they have strong competition with other larger groups of sustainable farmers, corporations and organizations.

Target offers the brand Archer Farms, which is known for it’s all natural ingredients.

The Share program which is found in Illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan offers a similar mission as that of the Riverwest Co-op. Because it is such a large organization and offers more options to receiving better quality and healthy food, this could hinder the work of the Riverwest Co-op. For example, there are over 20 locations throughout Milwaukee where one can pick up food, sometimes even after ordering it online through the Share website. The Riverwest Co-op does not offer these options, which limits their customers and members.

Limitations of local action and local change

Photos taken by: Candiss Shumate

The Riverwest Co-op Café is connected to the store, and is usually pretty busy. 98% of the products in the café are organic, and most of the members are familiar with where their food comes from. The volunteer cooks were friendly, and the overall atmosphere was comfortable, especially with Bob Dylan and the Beach Boys tunes playing in the background.

Volunteering ten hours at the Riverwest Co-op has been an enlightening experience. We have learned the values and benefits of shopping and eating local and organic food.

The Riverwest Co-op’s volunteers were extremely welcoming to us, and made us feel comfortable. We were offered a cup of organic coffee each morning we arrived. One particular morning we also had the opportunity to order breakfast from the café, which contained local eggs produced from a farm nearby.

Because of our experience at the co-op, all of us would like to contact the volunteer coordinator, Gibson Caldwell, to spend our free time volunteering at the co-op. For example, by participating in activities like Spring cleaning, or helping plant vegetables at the CSA gardens or at Gibson’s own garden.

Overall Feedback of our Service Learning Experience

Some pictures taken during our service learning experience…

One of the volunteers who welcomed us our

first day.(photo taken by: Candiss

Shumate)

One of our group members, Eric, learning some practices

of organic cooking by a volunteer cook.

(photo taken by: Candiss Shumate)

One of our group members, Candiss posing in front of one of our completed projects. Our job was to design eye-catching signs for local produce sold at

the front of the co-op.

(photo taken by: William Chaussee)

One of our group members, Will working on one of our projects. This project was re-packaging

organic food and pricing it at a lower, and more efficient cost.

(photo taken by: Candiss Shumate)

The Riverwest Co-op does not only sell food, but it sells a wide variety of eco-friendly

hygeine and cleaning products.

(photos taken by: Candiss Shumate)

(photo taken by: Candiss Shumate)

A front view of inside the Riverwest co-op